Gender and Power

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Gender and Power

The way individuals are brought up plays an essential role in how individuals understand gender roles. Children, and especially girls, are brought up believing that they are supposed to carry out household chores and take care of children. On the other hand, boys are brought up thinking that they are supposed to provide for their families and protect them from attacks. Therefore, gender is socially constructed and created.

           It is hard for most individuals in the contemporary world to understand what it felt like for women not to practice their democratic right of voting long before 1920. Women were denied the right to vote because they were regarded as less intelligent than their male colleagues. As a result, their votes were under the control of men just as children were under the supervision of their parents (Butler 88). Further, early before the 1930s, married women were denied the right to move from place to place on their passports and were required to use their husbands’.

           Since medieval times, gender roles have significantly changed. Previously some of the duties that were considered as belonging to men and women, have taken a different turn. For instance, in the past, cooking and other household chores were considered as belonging to women (Erye 10). However, nowadays, men also perform household chores and look after their children in the absence of their mothers.

          Traditionally, specific jobs and especially those related to politics and the criminal justice system, were male-dominated. Women were not seen as having the capacity to hold such positions. However, as time went by, there was a drastic increase in jobs related to women, supplemented by a substantial change in economic opportunities for women. Although women possess male-dominated occupations, there still exists a gender pay gap, which is a clear indication of the significant alterations in salaries that continue to exist for jobs related to women compared to roles related with men (Siobhan 68).  Such a difference can be related to overcrowding in certain occupations. For example, if women are extremely concentrated in particular occupations, there will be an oversupply of labor, leading to reduced wages for women.       

Unlike before, where women never occupied high positions of power, in the contemporary world, women now run for political offices and become managers in organizations. However, women’s choices play an essential role in why the majority of males still dominate the high positions of power. For instance, women have a higher likelihood of quitting their jobs after child delivery (Butler 93). As a result, most companies are afraid of investing in women, especially when it comes to training due to the fear that they will not utilize their full potential for the company’s greater good. Individuals experience ethnicity, gender, and social status inversely based on their social location. For instance, persons from the same ethnic group have a higher likelihood of experiencing ethnicity inversely grounded in their social structure position.

In conclusion, gender and roles related to gender are socially constructed. Gender roles have changed, and men and vice versa are now performing duties that were previously regarded as women. Women now run for political offices and hold high positions of power in organizations. However, the gender wage gap is still a contentious issue.

Works Cited

Judith., Butler. ““Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion” in Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.”.” New York: Routledge Press (1983): 82-97.

Marilyn, Erye. ““Oppression” in The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory.” New York: Crossing Press (1983): 1-16.

Somerville,, Siobhan. ““The Queer Career of Jim Crow” in Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture.” Durham: Duke University Press (2000): 39-76.

Topic: Gender and Power Midterm Paper
Subject: Other
Sources: 3 sources required
Style: MLA